Why womenomics still matters

Sally Herd spent two years living in Japan,

where she worked at the Canadian Embassy
in Tokyo. She is now a political consultant at
Burson-Marsteller in London. She tweets:
@herd_sally

As the Japanese prime minister said in an address to the United Nations

General Assembly in 2013, enhancing opportunities for women to work
and to be active in society is no longer a matter of choice ... it is a matter
of
the
greatest
urgency".
Japan is a country with an eternally sluggish economy, with an aging,
immigration-resistant population. Abes womenomics offers a solution
with its core tenet that a country that hires and promotes more women
grows economically, and no less important, demographically as well. So in
order to boost the Japanese economy, Prime Minister Abe turned to a long
ignored asset: women.

Japanese women are among the best educated in the world. Yet only 65
percent are employed (and half of those are part-time workers), as
compared to 82 percent of men. Work culture in Japanwhich includes
long work hours and limited leave makes it challenging to reconcile
career aspirations with domestic obligations. Up to 70 percent of Japanese
women leave the labour force when they have children, and most do not
return.

In response to this stalled development of women in the workforce, Prime

Minister Abe pledged to create a society in which all women can shine.
He acknowledged that women had long been an under-utilised resource in
the Japanese economy and promised to boost female labour participation
rates, increase the presence of women in corporate board rooms and
improve gender equality.

Two years on, the initial hype may have faded, and critics lament that
Abes economic experiment has failed. However, it is now, more than
ever, that Abes womenomics experiment needs to succeed.

The success of womenomics is integral to saving Japans flat lining

economy. The worlds third largest economy is crippled with stagnant
growth and deflation. Government debt is mounting. Bringing more
women into the workforce is a key way of raising Japans economic game.
According to Womenomics, a Goldman Sachs report, it was estimated
that if the employment rate of women in Japan equalled that of men, it
would boost the countrys GDP by as much as 12.5 percent.

The success of womenomics is also central in helping Japan beat its

demographic issues. Japan's birth rate slumped to a record low in 2014.
Some estimates say that by 2050 the population could be as low as 97
million - 30 million lower than now. A drop in the number of 15 to 64-yearolds is predicted to lower potential growth and shrink Japan's GDP. That in
turn is expected to harm the pension system and other elements of social
welfare. The impact in rural areas is predicted to be especially damaging,
putting the very existence of some communities in danger. Without a
significant change in the birth rate, Japan is facing a demographic time
bomb.

However, there are enormous hurdles that stand in the way of changing
Japanese societys views of women in the workforce. Tellingly, last year,
Japan ranked 105th among 136 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report
issued by the World Economic Forum.

Employees in Japan traditionally work exceptionally long hours, making it

difficult for mothers with young children to stay in the workforce. As of
2013, there were still 22,741 children on waiting lists nationwide for daycare facilities. Likewise, the rapidly growing problem of caring for ones
elderly parents has not been adequately addressed by Abes policies.
More than 95,000 Japanese, 80 percent of them women, quit their jobs to
care for relatives, mainly parents, last year. Those women who do return
to the workforce usually find themselves locked into low-paying, part-time
contract jobs.

Moreover, fathers rarely play an active parenting role and government

policies actually reinforce the breadwinner system by giving tax breaks to
households where one spouse works only part time. Japans out-dated
social norms and government policies may explain why 70 percent of
women give up their jobs after having their first child.

Another challenge for female employees in Japan lies in the workplace

itself. At the very top of corporate Japan is the bamboo ceilingsocalled by women for being thick, hard and not even transparent. In 2011,
4.5% of company division heads were female, up from 1.2% in 1989. But
relative to other countries the numbers are still dismal. Of the most
senior, executive-committee-level managers in Japan, 1% were women in
2011, according to a regional study by McKinsey. The equivalent figure for
China was 9% and 15% for Singapore.

Furthermore, societal attitudes towards working mothers may explain why

there are so few Japanese women in senior managerial positions.
Workplace discrimination and bullying of pregnant workers is known in
Japanese as matahara, or maternity harassment. According to Rengo,
Japans biggest trade union confederation, a fifth of young mothers
experience some kind of office harassment.

Since Abes first unveiled his womenomics policy, there have been small
shoots of progress. Government initiatives such as increased childcare
leave benefits, subsidies and tax incentives for companies deemed
women friendly, reduced waiting lists for child-care programmes and
greater workplace flexibility, such as teleworking, have helped introduce
one million women to Japans labour force.

Nevertheless, when it comes to womenomics, Abes "to-do list" remains

long. The Prime Minister must re-adjust Japans idea of work-life balance
by convincing both men and women that long working hours have many
disadvantages for both societies and companies. Societal factors such as
in-work bullying against pregnant women and working mothers must be
challenged from the top-down.

While critics suggest Womenomics will end with Abes departure, optimists
believe that a generational change by 2020 would ensure womens
empowerment becomes the norm rather than a political buzzword. In
short, Abe needs to prove that womenomics is for real, not some national
corporate-social-responsibility exercise. The countrys future literally
depends on it.